Sofa bed construction



Sept 27, 1949. M RTA H ET AL 2,4832% SOFA BED CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan.11, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I mi NENTORS G/lbn Mu/"Iaqhand Joseph B. P/mrBY $5M 22W THE/f? ATTORNEY Sept 27, 1949. G. MURTAGH ETAL I 2,433,295

- I SOFA BED CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 11, 1946 l a Sheets-Sheet 2 & I,

INVENTORS Gi/uerf Murra h and Joseph 5 Plan THE/l? ATTORNEY PatentedSept. 27, 1949 SOFA BED CONSTRUCTION Gilbert Murta gh and Joseph B.Platt, New York,

., assignors to James McCutcheon & 00.,

New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 11, 1946,Serial No. 640,533

11 Claims. (01. -59) The present invention relates to sofa bedconstruction and more particularly to a novel and advantageousconstruction whereby the back of the sofa is controlled in its movementfrom its position as part of a sofa to the position assumed when thesofa bed is to be used as a bed and in the reverse movement, and isretained in such positions against accidental movement.

An important object of the invention is novel and advantageous means forconverting a sofa bed to a bed and vice versa.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and advantageousmounting for the back of a sofa bed whereby the back may be swung abouta horizontal axis back and forth between a position for a sofaarrangement and a position for a bed arrangement.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel and advantageouscontrolling means for the back of a sofa bed whereby said back may beswung about a horizontal axis to positions for sofa use or bed use andretained against accidental displacement from either of said positions.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel and advantageousmeans for controlling the back of a, sofa bed whereby the back there-.of may be moved back and forth between the positions for use as a sofaor a bed and will be automatically latched in each position untilmanually released.

- The invention may be carried out by using a bed having ends that arehigh at the rear of the bed to provide means for pivoted support of thesofa back at its upper edge, and having means at one of said ends tohold said back in either of two positions. The back may be pivotallysupported on a round member extending from one of said ends to the otherand held against rotation, and may be urged upwardly by a springattached at one end to said round member at a point spaced from saidends and also to a part of the frame of said back to urge the sameupwardly. The back may be latched in either position by means of aspring latch at one of said ends.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear upon consideration ofthe following detailed specification and of the drawings, in which Fig.1 is a section taken along a line ll of Fig. 4;

Fig. 2 is a view of the structure shown in the upper right hand part ofFig. 1 showing the sofa back in raised position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view on a larger scale of the parts shown at theupper edge of the sofa back;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section taken in a vertical plane along thepivotal axis of the sofa back;

Fig. 5 is a view of a plate on theright end of the sofa back surroundingthe opening through the side of the frame for said back;

Fig. 6 is a view of one of the end plates supporting the ends of theshaft or round member on which the sofa back is pivotally mounted; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view showing one end of the back-supportingshaft.

The drawings disclose a base frame In comprising front and rear membersI! and I2, respectively, side members l3, and members l4 connectingv themembers I! and I2 preferably near their upper edges, said members I4being near the end members I3. Said frame H3 is supported by castersl5secured to the two'members [4, located at the ends of the frame, andat their lower faces. Mounted on the frame it is the frame it of the bedproper. In view of the fact that the arrangement of side members l3,members M and pairs of casters I5 is the same at both ends of the framel0, only one of each is shown on Figure 4.

Said frame I 6 includes ends I! having flat top portion l8 extendingfrom the front toward the rear where there are raised portions Hi toreceive between them a sofa back 20. Said ends I! are connected at theirlower ends by front and rear members 2! and 22 respectively, and saidraised portions l9 are connected at their rear edges by a bar 23.

A bed spring 24 of any suitable kind is supported by means includingsaid bars hi, and saidbed spring carries a mattress 25. The sofa back 2Umay, when the sofa bed is to be used for a sofa, be located with itslower edge adjacent the upper surface of the mattress 22 and its upperedge far enough to the rear to assume an inclination suitable for thecomfort of a person seated on the mattress. Said sofa back has --a frameincluding left and right ends or mem- The invention of the presentapplication relates to novel means for mounting the sofa back 20 wherebyit may be shifted back and forth between 3, position for use and aposition where it will be out of use, thus leaving the whole bedavailable, and may be secured in either of said positions.

As illustrated, there is a hollow shaft 39 (Fig. 4), extending from sideto side of the frame of the cushion back 20. Secured in the ends ofshaft 39 by suitable devices 3| are pins 32 each formed at oppositesides with slots 33 having parallel bottoms. Said pins 32 are supportedin plates 34 placed over recesses 35 in said sides I! of the bed andsecured to said sides I! in any suitable manner. Said plates 34 havekeyhole slots 36 with circular upper parts large enough to receive theends of pins 32 and lower parts with parallel sides to receive the flatportions of said pins 32 between the bottoms of said slots.

Said shaft 30 is thus held against rotation.

The frame of the sofa back is supported on the pins 32 by means ofbearing members 31 and 38 at the left and right as seen in Fig. 4.

The member 37 has plate portion 39 secured to the member 26 at its outerface by any suitable means, and a sleeve portion 4a fitting over thecorresponding pin and adapted to turn thereon. The sleeve or bushing 4|]is of greater external diameter than the shaft 3|] and preferably fitsin a corresponding opening in the member 29. The inner end of sleeve 40may be engaged by the adjacent end of shaft 39 and limit movement of thesleeve in that direction.

At the other end 2i of the sofa back 30, the

bearing member 38 is similar in general to bearing member 31 and has aplate portion 4| and a sleeve portion 42 receiving the corresponding pin32 and engaging the adjacent end of sleeve 30. At this end 2? the sleeve42 does not fit in an opening through side member 21 but passes througha much larger opening 43 to provide space for a helical spring 44secured to one end by suitable means such as a pin 45 fixed to plate 4|,and at the other end to shaft 30 by suitable means such as a pin 46.Said spring 44 is arranged to urge the sofa back 20 from its normaldepending position to its upwardly extending position when the sofa bedis to be used as a bed, and the tension of the spring is suflicient tomake it easy to swing said sofa back to its upright position. The springwould also serve to cushion the downward movement.

To secure the sofa back in either normal position, the plate 4| may beprovided (Fig. with two detent openings 41 and 48 over recesses in side31, and the adjacent end H of the bed frame may be provided with aspring pressed bolt or detent 49 to enter either of said detentopenings. Said bolt 49 has an end gradually reduced in cross-section,preferably by rounding the same, to facilitate entrance thereof intosaid openings 41 and 48. The bolt 49 may be slidable in a sleeve 59extending through end l1 and secured thereto, and may have a reducedextension 5| passing through a plate 52 secured to member H at its outerface. The bolt 49 is urged inwardly by a helical compression spring 53surrounding said reduced extension 5| and interposed between the outerend of the larger part of bolt 49 and plate 52. A handle 54 secured tothe outer end of reduced extension 5| limits inward movement of the boltand may be used to draw back the bolt and release the sofa back formovement from either position to the other.

4 A washer 55 around the extension 5| may be interposed between theplate '52 and the handle 54.

The relative positioning of openings 41 and 48 is indicated on Fig. 5 inwhich opening 41 is shown in position for engagement by bolt 45 to holdthe sofa back in its depending inclined position. Upon withdrawing thebolt or pin 49 from the opening 41 and swinging the back and plate 41 ina clockwise direction (Fig. 5), and through slightly less than theopening 48 will be brought to the position vacated by opening 47 andwill receive the bolt or pin 49 which preferably was released intoengagement with plate 4| as soon as the shifting movement was started.As soon as opening 4? moved into alignment with bolt 49, the bolt wouldsnap into looking position.

Provision must also be made for limiting changes of tension of spring 44in a sofa bed in use and for adjusting the tension of the spring. Tothis end, a set screw 56 may be screwed into pin 32 at the right of Fig.4 just outside the body of plate 4| and between limit stops 51 and 58shows as the ends of an arcuate flange 59 at the outer face. The tensionof spring 44 may be adjusted by relative rotation of the back 20 and pin32 at the right of Fig. 4 while the set screw is removed. After suchadjustment is completed the set screw 56 may again be screwed into thepm.

It should be understood that various changes may be made and thatcertain features may be used without others, without departing from thetrue scope and spirit of the invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a sofa bed comprising a bed with ends projecting at their rearsabove the mattress level and a sofa back with a frame having endmembers, means for connecting the upper part of said sofa back with saidends for swinging movement about a fixed horizontal axis between adepending position comprising aligned pivots carried by said ends andfixed against rotation therein and passing through said end members,spring means connecting one of said pivots to the corresponding endmember to swing said sofa back upwardly for use and an upwardlyprojecting position, and means for retaining said sofa back in aselected position.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the ends of the framefor said sofa back have aligned sleeves passing therethrough and fittingover said aligned pivots.

3. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said retaining meanscomprises spring locking means efiective when the sofa back is broughtto a selected position.

4. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said retaining meanscomprises a bolt slidably mounted in a bed end and bolt receivingrecesses provided by said back in position to cooperate with said boltwhen the back is in a selected position.

5. In a sofa bed of the character described, a bed frame having ends, asofa back comprisin a frame having end members with coaxial openingstherein, bearing members comprising bushings and end plates secured tothe end members with the bushings extending inwardly in said openingsand in alignment with each other, pivots in said bushings, means carriedby said bed ends for supporting said pivots and preventing relativerotation, and spring means connecting one of said bushings to an end ofsaid bed frame to swing said back upwardly.

6. The combination according to claim 5 wherein each of said pivots hasopposite grooves with parallel bottoms near its outer end and said bedends carry plates with aligned keyhole slots having upper parts largeenough to receive said pivots and lower parts to receive the fiatportions between two grooves and hold the pivots against rotation.

7. The combination according to claim 5 wherein there is a hollow shaftfitting over the inner ends of said pivots between the inner ends ofsaid bushings and said shaft is connected to said pivots to preventrelative rotation therebetween.

8. The combination according to claim 5 wherein there is a hollow shaftfitting over the inner ends of said pivots between the inner ends ofsaid bushings, said shaft is connected to said pivots to preventrelative rotation therebetween, and there is a helical spring aroundsaid shaft attached at one end to said hollow shaft and at the other endto a part attached to the frame of the sofa back and urging said sofaback toward its upwardly extending position.

9. The combination according to claim 5 including means for limitin theturning of one of said end plates on the corresponding pivot comprisingan arcuate flange on said plate and a set screw in said pivot.

10. The combination according to said claim 5 comprising a shaftconnecting said pivots and fixed thereto and means urging said sofa backupwardly including a helical spring surrounding said shaft and connectedat one end to the shaft and at the other end to one of said end plates.

11. The combination according to claim 5 comprising a shaft connectingsaid pivots and fixed thereto, means urging said sofa back upwardlyincluding a helical spring surrounding said shaft and connected at oneend to the shaft and at the other end to one of said end plates, andstop means for limiting the unwinding action of said spring.

GILBERT MURTAGH. JOSEPH B. PLATT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,237,740 Andren Aug. 21, 19171,375,868 Thompson Apr. 26, 1921 1,907,177 Caldemeyer May 2, 1933Certificate of Correction Patent No. 2,483,296 September 27, 1949GILBERT MURTAGH ET AL.

It is hereby certified that errors appear in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows:

Column 4, lines 48 and 49, strike out the words for use and an upwardlyprojecting position and insert the same after position in line 43, samecolumn;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these correctionstherein that the same may conform to the record of the case in thePatent Office.

Signed and sealed this 5th day of September, A. D. 1950.

THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assistant Commissioner of Patents,

